


A second family, a second chance

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Background Judd Ryder/Grace Ryder, Background TK Strand/Carlos Reyes, Emotional Baggage, Episode: s01e08 Monster Inside, Exhaustion, Gen, Hospitalization, Missing Scene, Near Death Experiences, Secret Relationship, Superstition, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Waiting Rooms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23974858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: The single worst day of Judd’s life, without question, was when he had lost the whole of the 126 in that explosion six months ago, and nothing could ever eclipse that.Watching TK still and pale in that hospital bed came in at a close second, though.
Relationships: Firehouse 126 Crew (9-1-1 Lone Star) & TK Strand, Judd Ryder & TK Strand
Comments: 14
Kudos: 111





	A second family, a second chance

**Author's Note:**

> You know what, I don't know where this came from. I just knew that I needed to write it, and I did, so here you go. This whole scene... meant a lot to me?? In the hospital?? I remember when I was in there and my whole family travelled to come and see me on the first night, even the ones that lived close to an hour away, and seeing TK surrounded by the people he loves made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I don't know. I still haven't watched most of the show, so I hope I'm getting the characters alright, but I really did try my best?? This whole thing probably makes no sense, but oh well. I hope you like it xx

The single worst day of Judd’s life, without question, was when he had lost the whole of the 126 in that explosion six months ago, and nothing could ever eclipse that. Watching TK still and pale in that hospital bed came in at a close second, though.

Judd had watched him go down, fallen to the ground like a sack of bricks and Owen not far behind him, and it all happened so fast that Judd couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. It took a few moments before the gunshot even registered and he saw the traces of blood on the doorframe and the painting in the hall, but by then it was already too late, and Michelle was crouching down and Owen was crying his name and everyone else was starting to freak out behind them, and the job had already been long forgotten.

They were at the hospital. Carlos was in the room with TK, gently smoothing his hair back from his forehead and whispering reassurances and promises into his ear, not knowing if his words were getting through the medical coma they had put him in. Owen had finally taken a break, and was now down in the chapel, taking some time to himself. The rest of the 126 occupied the waiting room just outside TK’s room, waiting for any sort of improvement or news or anything at all. So far, they knew nothing other than it wasn’t looking good, and that TK might never wake up. And if he did, there was still a possibility that he wouldn’t quite be the same.

“He’s going to be fine,” Mateo had been saying to the group, but mostly to himself, for the past two hours. “It’s TK! He’s gotta be fine.”

Paul had taken turns in sitting silently in the room with Carlos and sitting next to Marjan in the waiting room, looking towards the strangely intimate moment between the sleeping TK and the jittery Carlos as if he had information the others didn’t. Judd hoped he did. It would make him feel better about leaving TK alone in there with a relative stranger. Marjan had curled up on herself in the little waiting room chair, forcing herself to keep her eyes open after their very long, never-ending shift, and watching TK’s room with a fierce sort of intensity that Judd had never seen before. Protective, almost, but deadly so.

It had been a little while since Owen had retreated to the private, relative safety of the hospital chapel with little more than a short word over his shoulder, and Judd was just deciding whether or not to leave the waiting room to go after him when Grace arrived, and to tell you the truth, the sight of her coming around the corner was the sweetest thing that Judd had ever seen.

She didn’t ask what had happened. She didn’t need to. Judd had texted her on the way to the hospital to tell her where he was going, that he was OK, that he wouldn’t make it for dinner tonight and not to wait up for him, that he loved her. Instead of asking questions, she came, and she sat with him. She didn’t ask what he needed because she already knew, and she locked her hand in his and leant her head on his shoulder and let him wind his arm around her and rest his forehead against hers and she looked up into his eyes and didn’t say anything, because she didn’t need to, and she just waited until he was ready to let her go. He would never be ready to let her go, but he did when both of them started to get fidgety.

“How’s he looking?” she asked eventually when even Mateo had fallen into a quiet, worried funk.

“Not really any news yet,” Judd said as he rubbed his hand up and down her side, and he hated how thick his voice sounded. It was just from how little he’d used in in the past few hours, he justified. “But it isn’t looking good.”

Across the tiny waiting room, Marjan shook her head and made a displeased sound in the back of her throat, and the attention was drawn to her. “We can’t think like that. We don’t even know anything yet- he could have nothing wrong with him. We can’t… we can’t go down that road. Not yet, at least.”

Grace looked around at the 126, all in various states of exhaustion and panic. “You guys look tired. Have you been here the whole time?”

“Nah, we ducked in for a bit,” Paul said. “Only one of us could go with TK in the ambulance, so we went back to the station until Cap called and told us we could come and see him. We had a little bit of time.”

“We also got changed,” Mateo said, not looking at anyone, his head resting on his hands, his shoulders slumped, his elbows digging into his spread knees. “Lucky us. Cap’s still in his uniform from this morning.”

There was a pause. They hadn’t thought about that. They should have brought him some spare change of clothes when they dropped by the station, considering they all knew that Owen wasn’t going to leave TK’s bedside until he woke up and was back on his feet. Judd cursed his short-sightedness.

He must have tightened his hold on Grace’s hand because she squeezed his back just as tightly and ran her thumb over the back of his hand. “Does anyone even know what happened to him? From what I’m getting, one minute he was fine and the next he was on his way to emergency surgery.”

“Not me,” Judd said. He shifted and tried to get comfortable in the little hard-backed chair he had sitting in for a vast majority of the night, but nothing really helped. “I was at the back. I didn’t even know he was down until Owen started to panic.”

“I saw it,” Marjan said, and even Judd looked up at that because he hadn’t known. “A little kid shot him. He thought we were breaking in, and he took his grandfather's handgun and shot TK the moment that door opened. He would have shot either one of us. It was an accident.”

Judd whistled. Mateo looked up at her, and Paul twisted in his seat. “Poor kid,” he said. “That would have been hard to watch.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “It would have been almost funny if it wasn’t so terrifying,” she said. “Seeing sure, confident TK looks so bewildered and composed, easy-going Captain Strand panic like that? I could have laughed. But then… I realized what had happened…”

She trailed off, and the room fell back into silence. Mateo broke it, as he had many times that night, by saying with a confident tone that wavered only a little bit. “It’s TK. He’s gonna be alright. He has to be.”

Judd didn’t have the heart to tell him that trauma and pain and death didn’t pick and choose who it took just based on who you were. It didn’t wasn’t like flicking through a catalogue to pick the clothes you want. Death doesn’t discriminate. 

But Judd wasn’t sure if he wanted to burst his bubble tonight. The poor kid looked like he was on his last tether, and Judd just couldn’t bring himself to rip the feeble hope he still held onto away from him.

Once again, they had fallen into a companionable yet stressful silence that was suddenly broken by the piercing tones of radio chatter, soothingly familiar yet no less jarring. The 126 knew full well that none of them had even thought about bringing their radios along to the hospital, and their eyes drifted to Carlos, still in his work uniform, who was murmuring softly into the radio by his shoulder. Once the speaker had fallen silent, Carlos took another moment before he stood, placed a chaste kiss on TK’s head and Judd and most of the rest of the 126 felt the need to look away from the tender moment before he turned and left the room. 

He joined them in the waiting room, looking teary-eyed and desperate, shaking a little bit, not meeting anyone's gaze. “Uh, I’ve got to go. Armed break-in and robbery and I'm the nearest unit. Uh, sorry about… right.” He cleared his throat and looked towards Paul. “You’ll let me know if… if, uh…?”

The answer was left unsaid, but he didn’t need to finish it. They all understood. All wanted the exact same thing. “I’ll call you when he wakes up,” Paul said easily. “And don’t be sorry- I think he’ll be happy to know that you were here.”

Carlos nodded, but he seemed a little choked up, a little wet around the lashes for some random cop that nobody knew, but Judd trusted once again that Paul knew more than the rest of them did. “Thanks. I should… where’s Captain Strand? I think that I should at least say goodbye.”

“In the chapel,” Marjan said and Carlos nodded. “If you see him, could you send him up for us? We’re starting to get worried.” Judd was glad that he wasn’t the only one who shared that train of thought, and was relieved when Carlos nodded.

“No need,” Came a surprisingly composed voice from the opposite hallway, and Owen joined them in the tiny waiting room, Michelle in tow, and stopped just short of the little circle of chairs. “Thank you for taking time out of your day and stopping by, Officer Reyes. I’m sure… I think he’ll be very happy to know that you came.”

Nodding, Carlos cleared his throat as he passed, patting Paul on the shoulder and shaking Owen’s hand on his exit, and after a brief goodbye, Michelle followed him out.

“That was nice. I wasn’t expecting any outsider guests tonight,” Owen said in that way he did when he was trying not to let it show that something was bothering him. It was an admirable effort, but by now, his team knew him better than that. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “You guys should go home. Sleep in a real bed. Eat some real food. He isn’t going anywhere. You can come back first thing tomorrow morning.”

“I’ve become pretty attached to this chair,” Mateo said, not looking up from where he was drilling a hole in the patterned epoxy flooring with his eyes. “And those snacks in the vending machine look pretty good. I don’t think any of us will be that hungry anyway, after this.”

“I feel sick just  _ thinking  _ about eating while TK…” Marjan trailed off, not able to bring herself to finish that sentence. 

She didn’t have to. They all shared the sentiment.

“Alright,” Owen said it like it meant nothing, but he was blinking more than normal, and his voice sounded heavy, like the calm before the storm. “Suit yourselves.”

They watched his retreating back as he re-entered TK’s room, and sat down in the chair Carlos had just vacated, running his fingers through his son's hair and talking to him quietly like it was just another day as if they weren’t currently in a hospital and TK wasn’t in a medically induced coma facing life-threatening injuries.

“You should go home,” Judd said to Grace, and she stirred at the sound of his voice and the vibration against her back. “Get some sleep. I’ll stay here and see you in the morning.”

“I’m not going anywhere, tough guy,” she replied, and Judd knew better than to argue. “I’ll keep you company. I don’t have an early shift tomorrow anyway.”

“He’ll be alright,” Mateo repeated. “He has to be. He has to be.”

“He will be,” Judd told him, and Mateo looked up at him through his eyelashes and the cracks between his fingers. He looked like he was holding back tears. “TK’s a stubborn son of a bitch. He’s not going to lose to a single bullet, especially not on a job. Nah, he’ll bite the big one by jumping off a building without a harness or running into a fire without a suit. Something stupidly heroic.”

Paul laughed. “He’d die saving lives as a civilian. Saving someone from drowning or getting someone out of a gas-zone without a mask or something. Not by a bullet. Judd’s right. TK’s too stupid to take the easy way out.”

Judd couldn’t believe that they were joking about their friend dying like they were, but he supposed it was just their way of coping. Mateo’s affirmations seemed to have worked. It may have been the exhaustion, but suddenly they were all so confident that TK Strand would never die to something as measly as a single bullet. Maybe the hospital trauma ward wasn’t the best place to be making these kinds of jokes, but what could you do? Judd had come a long way to be able to join in. Even Grace’s weight felt a little lighter against his side.

Their jovial mood was broken by a sob, sharp and aborted and painfully sad, and they all looked up to see Marjan, holding her hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs, momentary breaking her careful vigil on TK’s room to blink harshly with watery eyes. Tears threatened to spill over and onto her cheeks, but by some miracle, she managed to keep them at bay. “Marjan?” Judd said into the resulting silence, trying to keep his voice as gentle as he could. “What is it?”

“He just looks so  _ small _ , you guys,” she whispered, and her voice was broken and reedy like she was trying not to scream. “How could you say that he’s going to be OK? How could you possibly believe that?”

Paul and Mateo moved from the seats they had been sitting in for hours to sit on either side of her and wrap their arms around her, and she held onto them tight, like a lifeline. “Oh Marjan,” Paul murmured sympathetically into her hijab, “It’s gonna be alright. It’ll all work out in the end.”

“He just… I’ve never seen TK so quiet,” she wept, and Judd wanted to go over there and give her a hug, but Paul and Mateo seemed to have that covered. “Just… look at him! He doesn’t even look like TK! It makes me sick to look at him. What if he wakes up and he’s not even the TK we remember? What if he doesn’t even remember _that_ TK! Cap said that there could be brain damage, but we won't know until he wakes up. What if he’s forgotten us? What if he decides he hates us? Worst of all, what if he can’t or _won’t_ come back to firefighting because of this? How can any of this ever be OK?”

“Hey, slow down,” Judd said, and Grace instinctually let him go so he could sit forward and place a hand on Marjan’s knee. “That’s not going to change a thing. So what if he doesn’t remember us? We’ll make him remember us. Hell, we’ll wake him up first thing in the morning and walk him home at end of shift if we have to. If he’s different, so what? Do we really care what kind of TK we have? Because I don’t know about you, but I just want the kid back in the station trying to cheer us up with his crappy jokes. I don’t care if those jokes are good every once in a while. I’d actually prefer it,” The made Marjan choke out a laugh, and she reached up to wipe the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. “And if he can’t come back to work? Then who cares. We’re not going to stop loving him just because he can’t work with us anymore. He’ll always be a part of the team regardless if he puts on a uniform or not.’

“Besides,” Paul added. “You know that nothing short of missing limbs is going to keep him away from the firehouse. He’d still show up for shifts and sleep in the bunk room and take his turn cooking. He’d probably come with us to each call if we let him, even if it’s to stand back and cheer us on from the sidelines. This isn’t going to stop him.”

“It’s not going to make us love him any less,” Judd continued, nodding to Paul. “We’re a family. We share a different kind of love. We’re not going to stop loving TK just because he isn’t a firefighter any more. Nothing will change. I bet you a hundred dollars that he’ll be up and running and causing all kinds of trouble by the end of the week.”

Laughing, Marjan blinked the tears out of her eyes and wiped at her face, almost looking ashamed for crying in the first place, but Mateo took her hands and held them in his, and she stopped almost immediately. “I’m not willing to take that bet, because I need all the money I can get, and I’m not willing to part with that much money for a dumb bet.”

“You agree with me then?” Judd smirked as he leaned back into his seat and Grace curled up against his side. 

“Duh,” Marjan scoffed, still a little thickly, but that was slowly fading. “It’s TK. He’s the most resilient kid I know. He'd be ashamed if he was killed by being shot by a single bullet. You’re right. He’s going to be just fine.”

Grace ran her hand up and down Judd’s shoulder, and she didn’t need words to convey their pride. “Exactly. And when he wakes up, we’re going to have trouble shutting him up, so enjoy it while it lasts,” he looked over the team one by one, all curled up in a tight tangle of limbs over three chairs, and took extra care to look over their faces. “You kids look beat. You should get some rest while you can. I’ll wake you if anything changes.”

“Kids,” Mateo muttered, pretending to be offended. “We’re not that much younger than him, and he’s still calling us kids like we’re teenagers.”

“You’re still younger than me, so that makes you the kids,” Judd shot back, and they laughed. The exhaustion must have been getting to them, and they slumped in their seats, eyes dropping shut, body's caving under the pressure. “Now shut up. You can’t fall asleep if your mouth is moving that fast.”

“Yes,  _ dad _ ,” Marjan joked, words mumbled and voice quiet, before she fell asleep like the rest of them.

Raising her eyebrows, Grace slapped Judd lightly in the chest. “Did you hear that? She called you ‘dad’.”

Judd laughed and wrapped his arm around Grace to pull her tighter against him. “Oh, hell no, don’t get any ideas, you.”

They fell into companionable silence, comfortable in each other's embrace, broken only by the soft breathing and sometimes snoring of the other 126 members, the quiet chatter of the nurses, the beeping of various machines in patient's rooms, and Owen talking quietly to TK, still and asleep in his bed. 

“You did a good job back there, with the team,” Grace praised. Judd only shrugged. “I think that they really needed to hear that.”

“Yeah, well.” Judd replied, “It’s easier to convince other people than it is to convince yourself.”

“You said it yourself- TK will be fine,” Grace assured. “And if he’s not, it’s not like you’re going to love him any less. You know it’ll all work out in the end.”

Judd hummed. “I can’t help but think that this is my fault somehow. That I… I don't know. Jinxed him somehow.”

Rolling her eyes, Grace made a disbelieving sound deep in her throat. “Please. You know that’s not true. You don’t even believe in jinxes. You're not superstitious.”

“I know, I know, but when I told him about losing my old crew… I feel like I made this happen. If I hadn’t brought it up, maybe he’d be fine,” Judd said. “And now, it’s happening all over again. I’m losing them all over again.”

“Judd,” Grace said evenly, and Judd craned his head down to see her looking up at him with those wide, open eyes of hers that held so much love and hope that Judd could hardly believe it. What did he do to be looked at like that? Must have been a helluva thing. “You’re not losing anyone. TK will get through this, you’ll all get through this, and then you’ll survive. Don’t jump to conclusions if you don’t even have all the information yet.”

“I know,” Judd sighed as he closed his eyes and settled back against the tiny seat. “You’re right. I’m just worried, that’s all. I hate hospitals, and I hate seeing TK in that bed. I’ve never seen him so still the whole time I’ve known him." He paused, thinking about how true that statement really was. "He fidgets, you know. Taps his foot on the ground, clenches his hands, knocks on things, plays with his lip, moves his fingers, touches with his hair, bites on the strings of his hoodies. Which is frankly disgusting, but what can you do. Kid’s nervous. Sometimes it looks like he doesn’t… I don’t know, fit in his own skin. He’s always tugging at his clothes like they’re choking him. Never seen anything like it.”

“I wouldn't judge,” Grace laughed. “You’re not much better, cowboy.”

Judd laughed. She was right. It didn’t make him feel any better about it, though but it was one of the reasons he loved the kid. For all his quirks. "We all have our things, I guess."

“You know,” Grace murmured after a moment as she placed her palm on Judd’s chest. “I was so scared when the call came through for a firefighter down. I thought… I was so worried that it was going to be you, and we were going to do the whole thing all over again-”

“Hey,” Judd said as he placed a firm kiss on her hair. “No. Don’t even think that. I wasn’t anywhere near it when it happened, and I’m fine. You know that. Besides, I would have called you myself to tell you if something had happened to me before they even considered calling any sort of ambulance.”

Grace laughed. “So thoughtful.”

“Anything for my favourite girl.”

The sigh Grace breathed was long and drawn out, and Judd could feel the tension leaving her body out through her toes. “I think we’re all going to be just fine.”

Judd looked towards Owen, holding onto TK’s arm and rubbing his thumb over the skin, quietly commentating on one of the hospital magazines he had found in the drawers, making silly voices and mocking the skincare tips. He looked to TK, just past him, his face barely visible on the pillow behind Owen, looking more peaceful and still that Judd had ever seen him. He glanced to Paul and Mateo and Marjan, sleeping soundly in a little pile and looking more calm than they had in hours, getting their much-needed rest. He thought of Carlos, and the way he had stayed by TK’s bedside, whispering loving words into his skin, holding back his tears, sneaking glances at a knowing Paul, looking like the very last thing he wanted to do was leave when he needed to be as close to TK as humanly possible, but knowing too well that he wasn’t welcome. Judd hoped that meant what he thought it meant.

“You know,” he said as he laced his fingers through Grace’s hair, and she hummed. “I think you’re right. The 126 has a habit of being… resilient and, uh, strong, against better judgement, and beating all expectations. That hasn't changed with the new crew. I think we’ll get through this one intact.” And somehow, Judd found that he really did believe it.

**Author's Note:**

> The reason Majan was the one who broke down was that I can imagine her being strong and bottling it up until she felt safe or it came out of her without warning or she couldn't hold it back anymore??? I don't know, I just feel like she'd be the first to crack when it came to something like this, just because like, the stress and the worry got to her?? Idk why I felt the need to explain this, but I didn't want anyone to think I was being stereotypical by making the woman cry. because, I too, am a woman, and I cry all the time, at the drop of a hat, but I love Marjan and I just wanted to acknowledge that she was RIGHT THERE when it happened, unlike the others.
> 
> OK ANYWAY, enough of all this rambling, goodbye for now.


End file.
